Bright and Glorious
by PoolHero
Summary: We all have a light in us. We all have a uniqueness that separates us from everyone else. We can make a difference, the choice is ours. We as humans have the power to change, not only ourselves but our environment. I am a man, and I want to change the world. I want to spread my light, I want to be a HERO. OC pseudo SI insert into the Marvel-verse as a mutant with the Speed Force!
1. Chapter 1

**ZERO TO HERO**.

* * *

_The world is shit._ How many times have you heard someone utter those words a day? A thousand? Ten maybe? How about all the time. _The world is shit. _Is something I say a lot of times in one day, so many times that I lose count.

To put it bluntly, we are all swimming in a pool of dark vile muck, no matter how hard we try we will all still drown in darkness, because there is no light to save us.

Edgy? Maybe. Realistic? Depends. Cynical? Absolutely yes. I have zero faith in humanity, so much so that it is borderline sociopathic. My light died when my family did. My eyes were pried open to the filth and darkness that hung over us at the age of 14. I knew that there was no redemption at the end of the road. All there was, was nothingness.

So as I walked through this garbage littered, spider web cracked sidewalk, joining the organic drones of office workers and hustlers, lost in their own little worlds. I steeled myself.

I turned my eye away from the screaming man being stabbed in an alley.

Or the protesting child being dragged by the hand towards a revved up car.

Or the kneeling elderly woman that just had her bag snatched and her face busted up.

Like the drones, the lifeless masses, I mind my business and walk to my destination. _The world is shit. _

I was ashamed. I _am_ ashamed. I wonder if I could ever be able to look my uncle bob in the eye if he were still alive. What a disappointment I would be to him. But he's dead. The hero, the man who saved, died. And I'm alive. Even as a spineless coward. Even as another lifeless drone, I was still alive, no, I was merely existing. _The world is shit_.

[Turn left] My smart glasses directed and I followed, matching my footsteps to its rhythm. The stifling heat causing me to take deeper breaths from my inhaler capsule. The dust gathering on the dark boundary of my glasses that protected my eyes.

It was really hot.

After the decade of drought, the global warming took extraordinary spikes. And today was one of those days were everyone felt it.

The tint on my smart glasses turned darker, protecting my eyes from the angry glare of sunlight. I stopped in my tracks, before me was a gagged woman struggling against two men who had pinned her to the ground. Her clothes ripped and discarded, her bruised eyes painfully pleading. "Heheh, yeah bitch just enjoy it" the one on top of her says. _The world is shit_.

I turn around putting the alley behind me, my steps are heavy, I can feel her painful betrayed gaze on my back. I'm not a savior, what was she expecting? My uncle bob would turn in his grave if he found out what I had grown to become.

But I can survive. I'll avoid these people and I get to live another day, without trouble. What does this make it now, the 11th or 12th time this week? Why am I keeping count? Maybe it's because I myself was once a victim, but that was long ago when I was younger, when my eyes were still closed.

Where are you God? Why are you letting this happen? Just destroy us sooner than planned. Maybe we'll find peace then.

"Hey!" once again, I am frozen in my steps. Was I going to get involved in this now?

"Stop it you filthy bastards!" a voice shouts out from behind me. I know it isn't the police, the police don't speak, they deliver the necessary punishments for your crimes and leave.

I am surprised. A man who looks to be in his late middle ages, screams at the two rapists as he runs towards them from the other side of the alley. This is truly a sight to behold. Heroes don't exist anymore, not in my world. When I say heroes I don't mean the comic book characters, I mean people who help each other. I mean good Samaritans. They went extinct like the dinosaurs, the very act of _helping_ was as foreign to my generation as fire was to the lungs. So saying I am surprised is an understatement. That man looks like my uncle bob, who was the very last _hero_ I knew.

The thugs are startled, the police could be alerted and that would spell doom for them. They run and stumble through another path but not before making the cut throat sign to the man. The one behind lingers his gaze on me for a moment and disappears into the concrete jungle.

He helps the sobbing woman and calls the emergency services, that is if they would even come to these parts or respond to his calls. In his eyes I saw something I rejected, _humanity_.

I turned on my feet and made my exit. So what if I saw some guy acting hero. He'll die soon anyway, this world won't allow you to bring your foreign light into its darkness. But why was I feeling this way? Why am I so affected by the it? Why was there a fire burning in my scarred chest.

* * *

When I was 13 years old, I was shot right through the chest, two inches away from the heart. It was from a stray polymer bullet, from the past times when the police used to do the _gang cleansings_. I lay bleeding out on the streets, next to unlucky others who had been shot in more fatal areas. But I was dying so it didn't matter then. Dying was terrifying. It's nothing like in the movies or books, dying was absolutely terrifying, my life didn't flash in front of my eyes, my future did. I had wondered if maybe it would be tragically romantic with me wondering if I would have become something great to make my family proud, or if I would've become a millionaire have money and women and whatever I wanted.

But that wasn't the case, my heart was pounding in my chest, so loud I could hear it through the thundering barrage of bullets flying around. And because of that I was bleeding out more, dying even faster. It was _terrifying. _

As the glare of sunlight stung my tear filled eyes and snot smeared face, I felt something wrap around me. And in that embrace I saw the dark chocolate, sweat filled face of an absolute stranger. He wasn't smiling, he was scared, but even through fear he summoned courage. His coal black hair had a sheen to it as the golden rays of sunlight struck it, his firm eyes shifting from spot to spot as I felt the rush of wind on my bloodstained clothes and slightly numb body. Everything became woozy, when my mind became cognitive once more I found out that he had carried me to the ER, he stood arguing with doctors. They said I wouldn't make it, I was too far gone, lost too much blood. The man refused to let it go, refused to let me die. Why a total stranger would go to such lengths was beyond me. But that thing he did, it inspired something in me. Something I had been trying to kill ever since I felt it, something I ignored and would never acknowledge until today.

Because I was tired of conforming to the will of the world. I was tired of merely existing as a drone, as a spineless meatbag, an organic machine that consumed air and food just to merely exist. I don't even know what I wanted. But it included freedom. Freedom from the darkness, and maybe just maybe, this little stupid act of mine could inspire others to shine their lights in this dark world. To not be afraid of it, _oh my_ _Bob! Joseph did you just sound optimistic?_! I heard my mind question incredulously. Maybe I am.

I hugged the crying child tighter to my chest, pulling the other one closer to my sides and I increased my running speed. The sounds of barks and hurried footsteps right behind me. My lungs burned, like the back of my throat, my heart pounded like the pistons in an engine. My feet raced on the cement flooring.

I'm not good, I know that. With the shit I've done, performing these acts today would be meaningless in trying to wash away all that filth I had accumulated over my 20 years of existing. But I would still do it, I would still put myself on the line and try to help, because it's MY! DAMN! CHOICE! I want to. I wasn't forced, I wasn't coerced into it, I wanted to.

So what if _the world is shit_, we made it that way. And we have the power to change it, we can make our own fires to drive away this darkness! The power is in my hands, in yours, in ours! Just use it. If you don't want to, that's your choice, just don't stop me.

I won't turn a blind fucking eye anymore, and if I die here today, let it be known that I Joseph Ilonne, died a good death, doing what I wanted to. You can mock me if you want to, you can call me pathetic or whatever the fuck you want to. But I, I did something. Who knows, maybe these kids I save today would save others tomorrow, and then a the cycle would be created and continued till the world becomes a better place. Maybe it inspires others lights to burn brighter, till the light becomes too bright for the darkness. Till it's filthy hold over us is broken.

They were catching up to me. The situation was becoming dire. I could feel their shadows trying to weigh me down. I could hear their slurs and insults getting closer. I could feel the fear trying to chip away my resolve. The voices asking of what I thought of myself, mocking me with each step I took. The darkness laughing in my face at the futility of my actions. My legs burning with fatigue and tiredness.

[400m to destination] the glasses announced. In that moment of distraction, I had nearly bumped into a figure that appeared from the shadows. I thought I had been ambushed, that I had failed, my heart ached at such.

I was frozen stiff, this had to be an act of God. Miracles don't just happen, "how the fuck?!" was what I uttered when I came face to face with the middle aged man I met in the alley way that had rescued the molested lady sometime last week.

He seemed to have been running towards us, towards the sound of trouble, this guy was very likely suicidal. I could barely speak of what I wanted when our eyes met. I just pushed the kids on to him.

"Take! Run huff! To Pol statio-huff! Station." I began to push him along, when I had gotten enough air into my lumpy throat I spoke again. "I'll stay, buying you time. Just go!" in his eyes were the same look uncle Bob had. Courage through fear. The fire to change the world.

"You're a good kid. I knew you had it in you. I'll be wai-"

"Old Man would you shut the hell up and go! Save the preach for the damn congregation. Just go! Please!" What the hell is it with people. This isn't a movie for goodness sake. I turned around to go enact my plan, a small hand held and tugged at the corner of my shirt. My head snapped back, one of the kids was looking me and holding on.

"It's OK. This uncle here will get you to your parents alright. I'm just going to keep the bad dogs away from you, okay. Everything is going to be super ok, and just fine, be a big girl and don't cry anymore." I patted and rubbed her head as she nodded. The middle aged man held onto them protectively and began to run, I stood watching him leave before he came to an abrupt stop.

"What's your name?!" he shouted distances away.

Old people and heroics, I nearly chuckled.

"It's Joseph, now get going grandpa" he smiled, nodded proceeded to leave.

"Haaa" I exhaled. There were no weapons for me to wield so I improvised. I took my smart glasses off and broke the metal frames, I winced _There goes my comics archive and family files_.

Holding it like small knives. This was getting cringy. Well, I was hoping not to die, you know. Maybe the intrinsic goodness in their hearts would surface at this moment like a pent up climax and overwhelm me with rainbows.

Vicious looking dogs were held by the chains around their necks. The thugs who chased after me with hot boiling rage on their faces looked like they were about to tear me apart.

"Hey Fags! I'm right here, and my dick is up and ready for action!" what a stupid line, but it had the desired effect. I made them angrier. Me and my mouth. "So who's first"

"You're gonna regret this you cocksuker. I'm a make it real painful for you" the one in lead spat. Every inch of his body littered with tattoos. The ugly jumbled up kind. I had tattoos too, they were sleeves, neat and nice "Go eat boy" he said to the dog

"WOOF! WOOF!" the chains rattled and the beast was set loose. Everything slowed down in picture perfect 4k HD. Every strand of spit that escaped the maws of the beast, every little crease and tick on its face, even its large squirming tongue, it's thick bulging muscles drawn taut, it's paws raised, as it launched at me. This had to be one of those bioengineered dog breeds, like a cross between a mastiff and a tiger. I am a fairly skilled fighter, you don't get to go through what I have without picking up any skills. But that was fighting people, this is totally different.

One moment it was meters away from me and in the next, it was centimeters away from my throat.

My heart pounded in terror. No one wants to die.

_**KRUNCH! **_Went my windpipe as jagged teeth clamped on it, the metal frame in my hand stabbing into it's unguarded eye. It howled in pain, releasing my throat. I stabbed again at its unguarded neck. The metal frame broke. The dog looked at me with a vengeance and it growled. I smiled,my eyes staring at the sky.

_BLEM!_ The dog made a yawn like painful howl, stumbled and fell limply to the side, lifeless. "Who the hell?!" "the fuck?" "Where?!" they shouted.

Bratatatatatata bratatatatata Bratatatatata.

"Shit! It's them bluebirds!" "Run!"

Bratatatattatat! Bratatatatatata! A carpet of bullets rained down on the thugs. The blue birds were standard police drones. And the police didn't fuck around.

The sounds gradually became less and less audible. My body was going numb and I was coughing out blood. I felt this way once. Death's cold touch. I couldn't stop tears from going down my eyes.

I couldn't stop choking and wheezing. I was scared, but not scared as well.

_If I had another chance, I'd do it better. _But even I wasn't that optimistic. No boys and girls this was the end of the road for me. I'll be joining my family in heaven….na,I'm going to hell. But if I do go to heaven, that'd be a solid 10, GOD. _Oh shit, fuck! God please just, have mercy on my soul. I know I wasn't good, I tried and you know how that went. _Tears kept falling down my face as the shapes now went blurry. My heart was beating faster, my body wanted more oxygen and I was losing blood.

_I guess this is it. Dying sucks, heh, dying sucks. Don't listen to people who romanticize it, dying sucks badl-_ "Urk! Urhk" the last breath of life left his lips.

And thus was the death of Joseph Illonne, the man who tried to do good, the one who found his hidden, silenced light and made it shine brilliantly.

* * *

**-XXXX-**

* * *

"It's Iron man!" "Whooo! We love you!" "Yeah!" I raised my head to stare at the clear blue skies with tinges of golden. A humanoid figure, clad in red and gold armor left a white wispy trail in the air, like a flying knight with rocket boots. He paused in mid air, demonstrating the sophistication of his highly advanced technological armor. The figure waved, the now gathering crowd burst out in unrestrained jubilation, throwing praises at the flying tin man. I awoke from my stupor and pulled my backpack filled with books closer and continued on my path. This wasn't the first time I was seeing such displays. It's quite common in midtown Manhattan actually.

The Stark Tower was one of the most outstanding buildings in midtown Manhattan, it was hard to miss no matter how you looked at it.

I know, I know. How does this tie in to the earlier narration and my death? Well that's a bit of a short story. I died being a hero(yes I was) and I woke up with a headache. I'm sure you're not supposed to feel anything after death, right? So it clearly wasn't heaven. No it was a hospital. Calm down, I wouldn't be saying I died if my torn neck was fixed up. No, I woke up in a totally different body, in a totally different time and in a totally different reality.

A reality that should have been pictures on a page or characters on a smart screen. But no, this was a world where fiction was reality, well parts of it.

This world was Marvel Universe. Not just the MCU, lord if it was, I would be stroking my super-powered rod right now in endless pleasure. No, this wasn't just the Marvel Universe, it was an amalgamation of the movies and comics including the X-men, a place where heroes existed, a place where villains existed, a place of aliens and mutants existed. That's right Mutants with a capital M. They were all here.

When I found out for the first time, I did go into shock for the first thirty hours. And then into a fit of mad laughter for the rest of it. Because I've read the stories on how transmigrators / reincarnators would go on to obtain so much powers. All the opportunities to become a God! That dream was killed when I visited a library for the first time.

Let's start with the most popular choice, extremist virus.

The extremis virus, was not a bottle of fix-it superpowers serum. No it was nanotechnology being pioneered by stark industries after Mallen, a techno terrorist who used it in one of his attacks, was apprehended.

The mandarin was the leader of the ten rings terrorist organization, and he had literal ten rings with various magical powers on his fingers, he was in no way related to extremis.

Captain America serum's then.

Various super organizations have been trying to replicate the super soldier serum of Captain America in experiments that created monstrosities and hell spawns. The last of which was Dr Bruce Banner's hulk, a living weapon of mass destruction who's current location was currently unknown. The general public don't seem to know that Banner is hulk, they just know he created it.

So anything that had to do with, 'human experiments' and radiation -especially gamma- was heavily restricted and highly monitored by the super military spy organization, Shield. Super tech military organization that has branches all over the world. Not like the one from the MCU, this one was larger and very established. They had eyes all over the world and they were the undisputed forefront of military operations and what not.

Oh and the Avengers formed. They are very, very popular. Basically superhero celebs. With captain America being the de facto leader (we all know Tony won't admit it) They had an addition of some other characters from the cartoons on the team, like ant man and wasp, ant man here was Hank Pym and sometimes Scott Lang. Of course they kept their identities a secret, those of them that wanted to.

Then there were the defenders, street level heroes. Alpha flight of the new captain marvel, Carol Danvers. The X-men, representatives of mutant kind. And of course AIM, Hydra, Oscorp and so much more.

Spiderman is here as well, he swings in to save people and do what any normal Spiderman would do, maybe there'd be Deadpool. I'm not too sure about it, seeing as I've only been here for three months now(cue in backstory). In the body of a David Creed. African American, 17 years old this year. No filial relations, raised in an orphanage till he ran off to hang with bad 'friends' had his head pounded by a wooden baseball bat, found bleeding out on the streets, died for ten whole minutes on the hospital bed before he _miraculously _came back to life. Hold up lemme catch my breath, huff. OK that should sum it up quite nicely. I'm handsome tho, I had sharp facial features, short black hair, hawk like eyebrows complimenting my bright brown eyes, square Jaws and complete pearly whites(my goodness they are beautiful).

It's nothing special around these parts, everyone I've met here looks like a part time supermodel, even the people who shouldn't. God must really love this world.

You know what? I am actually quite grateful. Look, I know when the people in stories get this type of chance they go all, 'absolute power or death!' but I am honestly happy. Can you imagine it really? This is basically a do-over. I mean sure the circumstances aren't exactly the same, but they are quite similar. How many of us wished we'd done something different when we were teenagers, how many people tell themselves 'if only I'd done this or that?' or 'if only I'd know this or that then?' I have the opportunity to actually do it all over again and this time do it right. Plus I get to relive as a teenager, power and all that can come later. I, the way and live in the moment matters the most.

I was currently staying in a rented room(dump) in the not so clean parts of town. While it did violate some living regulations and more, I wasn't complaining. The place was as affordable as I could well, _afford. _I had jobs at various places and an odd job or two here and there. Still trying to find my bearings and a stable footing after evading the services. Maybe when I have enough capital I could start up a company, and build some of the tech from my world. Who I'm I kidding, these people are technologically advanced too. They went to space way earlier than my earth did, they were able to by adapting alien tech into theirs. And they've been to the moon many, many times.

Half of everything I had thought up had already been invented. Plus it didn't help that I wasn't a super genius with photographic memory. I did have a good memory, just not photographic like everyone else here seems to possess.

The lights in the spray painted halls clicked and flickered. The rotten stench coming from behind some locked doors left me questioning where a body was decaying in them. But it was probably the meth heads or the weird fat dude who only came out to receive his pizza delivery.

"Hey, Dave." sigh. I stopped trying to shove the key into the rusted keyhole and looked at the caller. Mr Johnson. He was your typical old, hardened landlord. The kind that only wore a white shirt and blue jeans with untied boots. Had gray hair on the temples with an always mean mug on his face, with a barbed wire tattoo on his neck.

"Mr Johnson, you look well sir" I said with a smile.

"Kiddo, have my rent by next week or you're out. No more excuses" he expression barely even changing.

"I will, Mr Johnson. Thank you" he huffed and went about his business. I finally pushed the key into the lock and twisted. Slamming the creaking door shut behind me. I let another breath out to calm myself. With all this stress you'd think my X gene would trigger. Oh I had one, the hospitals here scan for it, it was just dormant and unresponsive, and most likely useless like normal people's. I am slightly thankful for that. You won't believe the type of shit mutant get dealt with. It's racism supreme. A messed up saying I heard around the hardcore haters was 'A good mutant was a dead one' Yeah, mutants weren't really viewed in a good light, largely due to that acts of terrorism by magneto, ignorance, misinformation, and because of their powers and the unpredictability of it and its effects.

I mean, you could be living next to a live bomb and you don't even know it. All it takes is one bad day and boom. You life is gone.

I dropped my backpack by the corner. The room was just that, a room. Square living box, wide single window, barely furnished with a single bed on the uncarpeted floor, a wooden chair and a scrap laptop.

I flopped down on my seat and turned the laptop on. I had to make research on a subject. I was studying for the ged and sats I would take at the end of this month. It was the easiest way to get a good paying job and take myself out of this squalor. Once I had the papers, things would be easier. I left the page to load, the wifi was free, but the connection in fact was the worse. I could barely browse the web as it is.

I leaned back and let my mind drift off to my imaginations. Here I was, saying I was going to be a hero. When I barely even had food to eat, so much for the second chance. I would help, I really would but for now I needed to build a base and have a steady income of cash. I browsed through my memories for superhero origins to maybe try and replicate one, but I knew that, that was just plain dumb. Most of those people survived through sheer luck, and for the others they had super pockets and superbrains, I barely even had any as is (luck or money). So I go into my mind and think up various scenarios, or origin stories and some random stuff, it has been my favorite activity to do while waiting. It also helped me, refresh and sort my memories.

You know, I actually had some DC equations. With the number of times I had gone over them on my glasses, those formulas and equations were burned in my memory. Every DC fan knew them, you just had to sit down in the privacy of your room and recite it, who hasn't? No one has ever summoned DC equations in a Marvel Universe.

Nobody ever really has done that, even in the countless fics I've read. There's no harm in trying right?

Alrighty then, let's go:

"Life equation. companionship + understanding + assurance + joy + altruism ÷ _respect_ ÷ commendation ÷ sympathy x innocence x dignity x success x acceptance y=n where y=despair and n=caution, love=truth, death=rebirth, and self=light side. White power ring of life come to me!" Nothing happened. Not even a single reaction. Dammit, I was this close to becoming a white lantern. Oh well moving on.

"Anti Life equation. loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + _self-worth_ ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding × guilt × shame × failure × judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side. I am Darkseid!" still nothing. Well worth a try.

I took a deep breath and focused, then shouted. "SHA_Z_AM!" nothing happened. This was actually embarrassing, shouting out nonsense alone in my room. The page on the laptop was still loading. The only one left was the speed force. I highly doubt that it would work. I mean talking about it like this now, would seem like the best time for the narrative that precedes the acquisition of a superpower for a somewhat unbelievabing person. So you get what I'm trying to do.

"_3X2(9YZ)4A_" _**Click.**_ I was genuinely scared when everything just went silent. Sound ceased to exist and I was frozen in place at the clear crisp sound of a click. And then a deafening silence. I felt something in me begin to react. It felt slow at first but it became faster and faster and faster. **KRAKOOM! **

My whole room quaked at the voice of god, I was rattled to the bone marrow , a bucket wide, bolt of white lightning obliterated my window. The lightning was the most beautiful, exotic thing I had ever laid eyes on, it sped at me like a bullet aimed at my heart and drained into my chest when it struck me. It felt like an electric shock, but with 10 million volts. I could smell my flesh cook as the plasma turned my clothes to ash when it finally hit me. I was tossed across the room from the force of the impact.

My brain felt like it was being boiled in hot bubbling oil, my very existence was painful. I would scream, but I couldn't. I was burned, very, very badly and saying everything hurt, was an understatement. I was in so much agony that I might have invented the word. The last thing I saw before my eyes went blind was fire spread from my room and it resulted in another explosion. Probably the meth lab going up in flames.

Even through all this, I felt something slot into place, like it should have always been. Like the final missing piece to the jigsaw of my being finally found and put in the right place. The sensation in me was harmonized with whatever had struck me and a sort of satisfaction overwhelmed me. A connection, a link to something larger than life, something greater than I could comprehend. It was there for me.

* * *

Officer Mike and and his partner Jones looked at the burnt pieces of wood and concrete that was once an apartment of people. The disgusting smell of burnt flesh and wood still lingered in the smoke filled air.

Officer Mike ran his hands over his trimmed mustache, it was a habit that helped him relax.

"What are the casualties?" He asked.

"Well, so far, thirty-six intact bodies found. No survivors" His partner responded as he read the report.

"So do we have any idea what happened here?"

"The report says the fire started from an explosion that occurred in an illegal meth lab being run in one of the rooms by a small time gang. But here's the weird part, eyewitnesses say they saw a massive bolt of lightning in the building, resulting in a fire."

"Who were the eyewitnesses?"

"Them" Jones pointed at the homeless people who were still busily narrating what they saw. Of course no one took their words to heart, the hobos were obviously high out of their minds. If their minds were still even properly functional. As they one of them claimed that it was the act of aliens and another saying it was the hand of god.

It was just another day in the bad parts of town. This wasn't the first time such had occurred, the crime wave had been on a rise recently but this was by far the most destructive. Things had to be done, or casualties would continue to rise.

**/X/**

"Hmm!" a man in a silver wheelchair suddenly exclaimed in pain, his brown suit ruffled as he pried off the a metallic helmet from his head, displaying his bald head and smooth features.

"Is everything alright Professor?" Asked the woman who stood behind a control panel. Her shoulder length stunning red hair swaying with the steps of her feet.

"Jean, dear. Cerebro just sensed a very powerful mutant manifesting. It was just for a moment, but I am certain that the individual is an omega level mutant, or possibly beyond. And that mutant is here in New York."

"They might be scared or worse, in danger right now. They probably won't have control over their powers and that could result in a disaster"

"Indeed Jean, inform the others. When the signature shows up again we will have to locate this mutant. I am hopeful that he or she is still alive"

Jean nodded to the professor's word, leaving him to go update the rest of her colleagues. Another powerful mutant, and one that could be omega or beyond was as rare as they came. If they ever did.

* * *

You are stuck in momentary darkness, and then your sight returns when your eyes pop back in, healed. You get pins and needles sensations throughout your body, like the bite of a thousand ants crawling over your skin, as the damaged nerves, tissues and organs regenerate and weave back together. Then the skin to hold it all together. All the while in Agony, but you can't scream since your vocal chords are still being knitted. The phantom pains causes you to lose your senses if you can't endure it. And then comes the itch, oh goodness the unimaginable **itch **that makes you want to scratch your skin with a metal bristle brush.

Now imagine going through all that in what seems like days.

Red and golden wisps of electricity lit up around my body, illuminating the dark wooden box with a micro disco like display. The lightning had killed me, no seriously I died again, burnt to a crisp. Why do you think I was in a coffin? I don't know how long I was dead for but my body had been put into a coffin and buried. I knew that the explosion that came about as a result of my powers would result in casualties. I saw the raging fires clung to the walls of my room before I blanked out. I was truly sorry about that, but it was something I had no control over. I couldn't even save myself. I couldn't have known that it would actually work! I really couldn't have known. There's no way for me to make up for it. They were already dead, I couldn't beat myself up about it either. I know this is a second chance, and I'm trying to do good. And maybe something out there is giving me a hand, saying: 'you know what, alright here's your superpower have a go at it. Help people' I will.

My newly acquired powers were remaking my body. Rebuilding it to better be able to use said powers. Which I was certain was the Speed Force. How else do I explain the level my mind was running at? It is off the charts. Can you understand what I'm saying here? My mental capacity and thought speed have exceeded limits I can properly define. It's like all my life I've been a broken car using square wheels for a movement. Now it's like I'm hyper aerodynamic hover car, the friction is so little it barely even registers, wheels don't matter anymore.

But the thing is, if I don't leave this box soon I might die permanently. The air wasn't that much and I haven't eaten for quite sometime now — I was starving. I'm sure the Speed Force could keep me holding up for a while, but how -torturously- long exactly would that be? I know I wasn't at the level of the flash, that would take some time. But I could reach it. I can feel my connection to it, the mystical extra dimensional energy that was always there, grow and bolster with each breath I took. It wasn't from this dimension, it's from beyond it. I became its connection point to this place. It was in me, generated with each heartbeat. Each breath, the infinite energy at my fingertips seeped into my being. The Speed Force.

I calmed my breath. Focusing on my speed and began to vibrate. This was try number 24. Intangibility was much harder than it looked in comics. You're trying to vibrate at a unique dimensional frequency that would allow you(your molecules) to phase through matter. Locating the frequency was the hardest part. And keeping your body vibrating on it wasn't a walk in the park either. But once you had it down, it became like a well honed muscle memory.

My body was vibrating - existing- in multiple states at once. Quantum tunneling. I could die right now, a dust particle could be lodged somewhere in my body it isn't supposed to and that'd be it.

But the Speed Force is protecting me, it's Aura like a protective form fitting bubble around me. Allowing me to do the impossible without the brunt of most consequences. I won't lie, I am excited. This is extraordinary. Was this how superheroes felt? Knowing you had amazing abilities at your beck and call is a feeling words can't describe.

It makes you feel like you're chosen, like a religious fanatic meeting their god. I see why people might get lost and drunk on this feeling. Why you would want to subjugate others, because your powers made you feel like you're higher than them. Makes you feel like a god.

Not me. I knew my beginnings. I knew how I got here. I wanted to help, not add to the problem. This was an opportunity that was nothing less of miracles. I would do right.

I pushed forward. But I didn't go forward, no I was wildly falling deeper into the ground. I was burying myself deeper and deeper the more I trashed about, if I didn't do something I would eventually fall so deep I might reach the Earth's core, or die when I lost concentration. Panic was trying to set in, fear was gnawing at the back of my skull.

_Calm down, calm down. Logic over panic._

I reined it in. And steadily went at it. Like threading a needle, easy and steadily.

The invisible Speed Force Aura protecting me, allowing me to walk, breathe and respire even at such great pressure and circumstances.

I began walking upwards, my bare feet pushing down on the soft soil. The clothes on me had long fallen off during my moment of panic. Everything was dark, but I instinctively knew the way up, it a 3d sense of my position relative to the space I was in, a type of inbuilt sensor to always be upright, to always know where my body was. The enhanced senses of my body coming to live.

I didn't burst through the topsoil. I phased right up. The ground on which I was buried was barely disturbed.

I inhaled. Taking in a breath of fresh, clean air. The golden rays of sunlight slightly warming my skin, as the trimmed grass beneath my feet was.

The cool wind moving through the quiet serene graveyard. There were no flowers on my tombstone (Turns out I've been buried for a week). But that wasn't what grabbed my attention, no, everything was going in slow motion when I actually focused. The birds in the sky, the bee paused kid flight on a flower, the drifting dead leaves stuck in air.

Everything, was in very slow motion. I realized that faint flicks of red electricity roamed around my naked body. I relaxed, I had to attune myself to real time, my perception was running fast in response to my mind speed's.

This could end badly if I didn't learn to control it, imagine living out a year when it was just a month in real time. Speedsters were most prone to going insane, when your mind was picturing things moving at such slow speeds the only person you can talk to would be yourself, everyone else would just be stuck in place to you. It would be hell.

I relaxed, things gradually sped up till it resumed normal speed, like hitting the play button on a paused video.

Clothes were the least of my worries right now. Shield could be watching me from their satellites or some other piece of sophisticated tech, but that wasn't at the top of my list either.

I was hungry, I'm starving, I could eat any food right now even vegan.

But I guess that too would have to wait.

"Lad, come. Come with me and join your family. You might be confused now, but you are a mutant, one of us. We watch over each other, we will not abandon you" Red helmet almost spartan, red full-body armor with purple gauntlets, cape and legwear. Magneto and his team of mutants slowly descended from the skies and approached me.

This was magneto! I was more surprised about meeting him than his offer.

"Kid, don't listen to him!" a male voice sounded out from a loudspeaker. And _holyshit _it was the X-men in a classic looking blackbird that was just invisible moments ago was now approaching.

Why the hell were all these people here?...Oh, ohh, ohhh. I get it now. I'm a mutant aren't I? And a powerful one at that right? And all these guys wanted that high level player on their teams. When the hell did my X gene even activate? Was it when I died or when I was struck by the lightning. What was my power? It couldn't be the Speed Force, we all know that the Speed Force was an extra dimensional energy that speedsters tapped into. But weren't speedsters meta humans? Now wasn't the time for this.

These people were giving me their sales pitch.

"Hmm" I turned to stare at a red head, Jean Grey, she seemed to be in her very early twenties, had the right curves in all the right places.

She had two fingers on her temples, her brows crumpled, like she was having a hard time doing something. Something wavy kept trying to meet my head. Like a silent barely noticed breeze caressing my head. Was she trying to telepathically talk to me? Or was she trying to read my mind? I am a speedster, our minds are very hard if not borderline impossible to read due to the Spee quantity of our thoughts. And I had speed force Aura around me, making it virtually impossible to read.

"We are the X-men. We want to help you, only if you let us." The one in lead spoke.

A visor with red glowing center covered his eyes, Cyclops. And next to him Wolverine. He was more hairy and shorter than Hugh Jackman, but he was _way_ more jacked and ripped at the same time, saying wolverine had muscles was like saying water is liquid(amazing muscles!).

Wolverine placed a hand on Jean's shoulder subtly telling her to stop. I noticed that all of them wore a different uniform than I remembered from the movies, this uniform was a high quality black, leather jacket with a great bright yellow x across the chest and zipper. Black flexible jeans and fitting combat boots.

"Boy, I see he has sent you to indoctrinate the youth as well into your brood" Magneto said to cyclops.

"That's rich coming from you, bub." Wolverine snorted.

"You're shouldn't even be here Magneto, you're a wanted criminal" cyclops added stepping up.

"Cease your useless banter. Lad, come with us and you will know the truth. These ones will only poison your mind and twist your thoughts. But I will show you the truth" Magneto said as he floated off the ground.

Wow, is this how girls feel when two people fight to see who gets her.

My gaze alternated between both groups who looked like they were ready to have a go at each other.

Jane took a step forward and a blanket hovered over to me. "You must be feeling cold" she offered.

See, that's a considerate person.

"_tch"_ A female with blue hair part of Magneto's crew clicked her tongue.

"Thank you" I said wrapping the blanket around my body ignoring the blue haired woman.

She smiled "You're welcome. We've got clothes inside the bird, if you need them"

It was awkward talking without clothes.

"Mr magneto I appreciate your offer, but I think I'll go with the nice people. I mean they did offer me something to wear"

I wouldn't go with magneto, I'm here to help people not to become the William Stryker of mutants, blowing shit up and what not. Plus I don't like magneto's eyes, his gaze reminds me of someone who thinks he's better than others, I've seen it before. But to give the devil credit where it's due, some of his doctrines were right.

Prof X's vision wouldn't work without some changes. We all saw how it turned out in comics, the future for mutants has never been bright. All his kumbaya teachings needed to be adapted to the new age. Let's not forget that mutants really did progress under Captain Hydra.

Cyclops nodded and smiled. As did Jean and wolverine.

"Hmm. The choice is yours lad, but remember my doors are open to you should you open your eyes to the truth" He floated away with his people.

"Ok, thanks I guess"

Cyclops walked over to shake my hand and 'welcome' me to the X-men. I don't think he's the asshole he's supposed to be yet, maybe Jean has never died in this reality.

"Do you have food? I'm sorry but I'm really starving here" I said as we walked to the jet that hovered downwards.

"Sure thing kiddo, more than you could possibly finish" wolverine said. He pulled out a Cuban cigar from his jacket and sliced the top off with his pristine deadly, sharpened claws. The claws were sharp enough to give the illusion of getting cut by just looking at them.

* * *

***BOOM? BOOM! my good people, I hope you all enjoyed it. **

**What I'm about to do here is make a realistic hero. A guy who actually genuinely wants to be a hero. Not the 'dancing with rainbows type', but the 'I've been through the dark and know how important the light is' type of hero. **

**I guess you can say I'm writing this to bring a sort of new light into my life. All my other mc's have been Grey if not outright dark. **

**David, was dark, but he wants to be a hope giving light to others. **

_**P.s this chapter came out slow because I lost and my phone, and with it all the chapters I kept, and all the files, and all the stashes*why?!***_

_**P.s.s Happy vals guys. Love is good…..**_

**Hit the like and fave button if you enjoyed the story. We'll be moving into a comic like marvel verse with elements from the movies and cartoons. And the x men as well. **

**Till next time, hero out. **

**VICTORY***


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer_ :all characters and mentioned universes belong to their respective owners and/or creators.  
This is a work of fiction.

'_Italics means he is talking to himself /inner voice'_

"inverted commas" means a normal conversation.

* * *

**ZERO TO HERO II**

* * *

I know they say everyone is beautiful in their own way. But by goodness some mutants are hard to look at! Call me a bastard about it, but you haven't seen half the shit I have. Wow, the most messed up case was the gender bent Benjamin Button happening to a 14 year old girl, making her look like a granny. And she had super strength. I've been here for just two days now and I'm still getting used to it.

Ok, maybe I was exaggerating it a little, some of them do look cool. Alot the others who looked barely humanoid had their own points I guess. But I see why humans would hate some of them, without proper education you would actually come to call them monsters and those 'monsters' were the real nice guys, you can see the effects of their names of them, most of them just hide out and refuse to show their faces. They lose any form of confidence they might have possessed prior to their mutant manifestations. It's sad that we judge by looks, but in the outside world that's how it goes. No one is going to see your inner beauty they're too superficial for that. We are creatures of sight.

"OK David, as long as you're ready" A bald headed man in a wheelchair appeared on the flat screens bolted to the silvery metal walls in one of the training room.

I gave the professor a thumbs up,tapped the earpiece in and got on the specialized treadmill. Yes, today we find out if I got the barely utilized -I can only go hypersonic- movie series speed force, or the normal -light-speed is my bitch- speed force that we all know and love from the cartoons and mainstream comics. You know the one that allowed the flash to clear out the whole population of a small city in North Korea in less than a microsecond as a nuke went off.

The one where he was calculated to have moved at thirteen trillion times the Speed of light.

The same one that allows him to witness events that occur in less than an attosecond. Twelve attoseconds are the shortest measurable period of time.

Take this for a comparison, In 1 second light can circle the Earth in about 7.5 times. If your perception of time reaches a point where you can perceive a single attosecond light would appear frozen, stuck in place to you. Because light would barely manage to move from one molecule to the next in that attosecond. It would be the great big pause of light.

Are you seeing the effects of the Speed Force on my intellect? I am. And it's insanely ridiculous.

I breathed out, and began running. Starting very very slow at first.

"600 mph!" It's shocking that you can go from 0 mph to 600 mph in less than a second and it barely even registers. I didn't feel any resistance or friction whatsoever. Speedforce, oh Speedforce. The sound barrier was only a step away.

I amped it up a bit. "1,200mph!" I was going as fast a jet.

_**Kaboom! **_"2,664 mph!" small flickers of red lightning started appearing on my body, I had broken through multiple sound barriers. That was the speed of Barry Allen in the movie series. I had easily broken past it. Now it's time for the real stuff.

Red Lightning crackled over my skin and formed a haze around me. "14,673 mph!" I was moving past hypersonic speeds.

"38,635 mph!" I was going faster than a space shuttle on re-entry. The whips of red lightning began to thicken, I still felt like when I started, everything was comfortable, I was under no physical exertion.

"97,887 mph!" It was akin to a simple slow jog.

"125,308 mph! 162,802 mph! 201,865mp!" The numbers were increasing exponentially. White smoke began to rise from the treadmill.

"299,087 mph! Stop! David you have to stop the machine is going to explode!" the voice of the professor said in my ear. I didn't want to stop running now, it was too good. I wanted to see what I could do, I was barely even tired as is. So I pushed.

"343,374 mph! Stop! Davi-" I ripped the earpiece out and focused on the Speed meter built into the treadmill. If I were a normal speedster without the protection of the Speed Force, the friction would begin to roast my skin off, my bones would shatter in shock and I would literally shit-out my guts and intestines.

My very footsteps began to sound like muffled thunder. Thick black smoke was coming off the mill. The lightning around me turning brighter, it all still felt comfortably fast. Like running at an easy going fairly fast pace.

[400,988mph. 463,972mph. 509,799mph. 599,999mph. 667,06-#$&% ] Everything was in super slo-mo as the treadmill became a frame-frozen sculpture with a budding mass of flames for a center and metallic projectiles stuck in air. My perception of time had increased to match my ridiculous speeds. And was different from when it first activated after escaping the grave. I leaped off the treadmill and placed both feet steadily on the wall, and I ran. This was to kill for, as much as it was to die for. The impossible made possible. My heart took much joy in this. A mere human, performing such godly feats of speed. It was more than extraordinary.

I grabbed the metal pieces stuck in place and they budged, flopping into my hands with zero kinetic force.

It worked. Taking an object's kinetic energy and momentum felt like squeezing a sponge filled with water into a bigger sponge or a an endless bucket. The endless bucket here being my Speed Force as it could take as much momentum I could sap. I ran around the room grabbing all the metallic pieces and setting them neatly on the ground.

I placed my hand over the mass of flames on the treadmill and vibrated my palms. The kinetic energy in the plasma being instantly sapped out of it, adding to mine, effectively extinguishing the fire. When everything was done to my satisfaction, I paused and let my perception slow back down to normal time.

"My God" I could feel the awe in the professor's voice, over the monitors.

The Speedforce is will bound, it will take a speedster as fast they want to go, as long as they had the drive and will for it. Well among other reasons, but it is an infinite source of power that has existed before time, it spans across all dimensions, universes and realities. It was whispering in my ears, telling me things I didn't know before; the closer I got to it, the more I interacted with it, the more I could grow, and the stronger our connection would become.

I was hungry again, very hungry. My metabolism had increased and with it my appetite. It was seriously off the charts.

I exited the room, to a sight of the blue furry form of the beast and professor X excitedly talking about my powers.

"Amazing! It's all I can say David." he smacked his knees in joy. "Dr McCoy here, will properly explain it."

Hank McCoy took over the explanation with a smile across his blue feline face. He pointed at the computer screens displaying charts of my vitals and videos of my run.

"Your body is tapping into this inter-dimensional force of unlimited space-time and kinetic energy. It's quite similar to the way Scott eyes acts as a portal to a dimension of concussive force. But yours are spectacularly different and vastly advanced. This endless cosmic energy source is simply unheard of. I'm sure with your level of stamina and durability you barely even feel any discomfort going at such speeds other than the hunger.

"Of course and your thought processes and neural transmissions are undoubtedly off the charts, I wonder how well you can multitask? But that's a question for another time.

Your mutation let's you become a conduit to this extra-dimensional energy, your body is being remoulded at molecular levels to effectively and efficiently utilize and connect to it. But it seems that these are just the early stages, hence the reason why your body is burning up so much glucose. And leading to your increased metabolism." he brought up another screen.

"So, we'd like to start you on a mega-glucose diet, and put you under observation. We don't know the limits of your powers and this extra dimension you tap into"

"Speed Force." "Excuse me" the beast said.

"The dimension of energy, I'm calling it the Speed force" I answered.

"Catchy, it's quite a fitting name as well" the professor nodded.

"Here, you must be starving" Dr McCoy handed me a protein bar.

"You have no idea" I ravenously chowed down on it.

"You should head on to the cafeteria before you miss launch"

"Yep, that was my destination. See you later professor, you too Dr McCoy" I said putting an extra push in my steps for added speed.

"He's amazing isn't he, Hank ? Such great power, and all he wants to do is help make the world better. This fills me with hope my friend."

"Indeed, Charles. He has his heart in the right place"

* * *

I steadily placed my tray packed full with food on the table. Ignoring the others who sat with friends and partners.

"What a masterpiece" 10 mouth watering meat burgers, with a side of fried sausages, complemented with boxes of fries, strips of beacon and a mountain of eggs and a gallon of orange juice to add that vitamin c. It amounted to over 9,000 calories(heh), my mouth was watering as is, just looking at it.

I had to consume this much food, for breakfast alone to sustain myself. It's not so bad, I gained an interest in cooking now, plus I don't get fat. Of course this will have to be remedied, maybe with compact nutrient bars or the Speed Force connection, but that's all in due time.

"Are you actually going to eat all that?" A girl with eyes as brown as her shoulder length hair. She had healthy sun tanned complexion, and she was well endowed, wow.

She placed her tray across mine and took a seat. I got a closer look at her and man she was a hottie.

"Hi, I'm Sophie from Venezuela" she said with a cute smile on her face, showing her dimples.

I raised a finger, telling her to wait. My perception sped up as my speed kicked in. I _devoured _the piles of food on my tray down to the very last piece. And then resumed normal speed.

"Hey, Sophie. I'm David from New York." I replied with a smile.

"Ohmigod!" her mouth hung open. She shook her head and stared at me. "How are you not fat? You know what, no, forget it, I'll probably stop being surprised soon enough"

I chuckled "You new here?"

"Yep, got admitted three days back. Haven't seen your face around, you're new too right?" she asked.

"Yes, I am. Your accent is really natural for a foreign student" I poured the juice into a cup and drank from it.

"Thanks I guess, my dad insisted that I get it down to perfection" she pushed her hair back and took a forkful of veggies from her plate.

"So, no friends?" I asked Leaning back into my seat.

"Right on the head. Everyone here seems to have formed a group of some kind. And they're not accepting new members"

"Yea, I noticed that too. I'm sure it'll be different once we get to know them. You might want to consider joining the cute girls."

She raised her brow and giggle" Yea right. So, David. What's your power? I can control winds and that includes hearing the sounds carried on air. Like those girls over there who think you're cute, but a glutton. Or those guys who think you're lame showoff"

"For real. Heh, well I do enchanting eyes." I winked at her, to which she snorted and shook her head. "I'm a super-speedster. Yes, it's different from the norm. My powers are somewhat electric based but very diverse. You have great power set tho, the applications are basically limitless"

"Thanks. Yours are cool too, although I haven't seen them ye- Oh no!" she screamed in terror, startling me.

I shot off my seat and looked around but couldn't find a threat. That's when I noticed that everyone's eyes were focused on a large screen I had sat turned away from.

"Holy f**cking sh!t." Planes, two of them appeared on split screens. One was about to crash in midtown new work and another was about to smash into a bridge. I listened to what the newscaster was saying.

"The ten rings terrorist organization has claimed to behind the sabotaging of the two Airbus carriers on a crash course towards Manhattan, New York. We advice people in the immediate areas to vacate the occupied buildings and take refuge in….."

Where the heck was Tony Stark, where were all the heavy hitters. I just got my powers, how could this happen now!

"My mom's in Manhattan!" "Can't we help?!" "Are you dumb! What the hell are you expecting us to do?!" the voices began turning hysterical. I had to do something.

I speed around the mansion, donning fitting black long sleeves, jeans and combat boots. I tried creating speed force armor constructs but all I could do was create an orange-red thunderbolt on my chest. I grabbed a surgical mask from the infirmary during my exit. I had to make do with what I got.

I pulled the Speed Force in me, causing red lightning to crazily crackle around me as I speed towards Manhattan from Salem.

**/X/**

I sped through the congested roads, racing past cars and running atop them. Leaving a blur and trails of lightning behind me.

I had created a speed mirage with simple orders to keep shooting tornadoes at the second falling plane while I head to the first. I saw the incoming plane in slow motion as it was posed to crash into one of the towering skyscrapers. My legs kicked harder, with one feet in front of the next I began running on glass, that made up the sides of the skyscraper. I ran straight up and lunged off the top of the building. Gliding in the air, kicking my legs and shooting for the plane, I vibrated and phased through the nose of the plane, past the dead pilots in the cabin into the passenger section. Where two armed men stood pointing their guns, I noticed the put together bomb vests on them. They were frame frozen, I disassembled the bomb vests and guns like pulling apart a Lego set and tightly constrained the men.

I placed my hands on both sides of the section, I didn't even have time to breathe the jet was too close to the skyscraper. I began vibrating, I began pushing so much energy into the jet that I felt painful tugs in my stomach. Time resumed and everyone was screaming. I pushed, the power wasn't enough. I pushed again, it stopped I wasn't concentrating enough. '_Focus! People are going to die if you don't'_

"**Arrggghhh!"** I shouted in pain, I pushed with my might, a vibrational harmony was reached. The jet phased through the skyscrapers like the visage of a ghost. The passengers exclaimed as offices, cubicles and people passed through them without a single disturbance.

I wasn't don't yet. My feet went through the bottom of the jet and began rotating at Mach speeds, which created vortexes that propelled forward for an empty stadium which was going to be our destination. My speed clone had dissipated, I couldn't sustain it, I couldn't concentrate enough, through all this pain.

_**THUDNN! **_The metal groaned as we impacted the hard ground not so softly. The interior quaking along with the lessened screams of people who now noticed me. The wings of the plane had been torn off during the landing, but the winds had cushioned them from most of the brunt force. I could feel the warm trickle of blood down my nose and into my mouth. Staining the mask red and causing me to cough. I dashed out of the jet, leaving scorch marks with my steps.

I had reached the bridge in mere instants from leaving the stadium. White vortexes of powerful winds shot from both of my rotating hands, easing the jet from its nose dive into a horizontal position hovering above and over the bridge, landing on the river below. I was running calculations for everything I did, the vortexes had just the right amount of power.

Saying I was exhausted was an understatement, I just wanted to flop to my knees and breathe, which I did, resisting the urge to rip the bloodsoaked surgical mask off, and eat till fall asleep. The sounds of helicopter blades slicing through the air, and with it the news helicopters with cameras out and focused. I crawled back to my feet, and looked ahead to witness a bare bodied man with long white hair floating in air, colorful blasts of energy fired from his hands at an approaching humanoid streamlined red armor.

Tony would handle his fight, I was too exhausted to be helpful. I kicked the ground and dashed towards the mansion, back in Salem.

**/X/**

I burst through the doors and I didn't stop running, till I crashed into Dr McCoy's lab and rolled on the floor. For what it's worth, I was proud of what I had done. I was proud that I had averted such a crisis, and I was joyful to be feeling better, like I had broken past a limit I never knew was there. I felt the Speed Force move in me as I drifted off to sleep.

The giant blue paws wrapping around me and laying me on a softer bed, the sound of clothes being torn and the sting of a needle going into my arm.

* * *

**/X/**

"He was this blur, like a bolt of lightning bam! He's inside the plane the terrorists tied up and we were going through office buildings, like ghosts!"

"OH, it was totally rad! This dude in black with a thunderbolt on his chest, roared like a friggin lion through all the screams. And just like that, zoom! The skyscraper we were 'posed to crash into we went through like wind brah! We were ghosting through it all like some Patrick Swayze s#%$"

"_sob_ I thought I was going to die _sob_ I just had a fight with my mom earlier. And then the guys with guns and bomb vests just took over the plane and shot at the pilots and I thought that was it, I would never get to see my mom again. I looked through the window and saw the plane crashing down into New York when I suddenly heard _sob_ the sound of lightning, and then a painful roar and the plane was going through all the buildings without even damaging them. And this guy was there kneeling with blood on his mask and he just upped and disappeared. I learned, to go save the others on another plane"

"And there you have it people, a new hero in New York. Who is this mystery hero who rescued both flights from such disasters. Whoever you are, we the people of New York are grateful. Cindy Jenkins for channel 5 news, signing out"

**/X/**

"So, he has the phasing abilities of kitty's?" The red headed Jean asked the blue feline beast, Hank McCoy.

"It's similar, but very different. Here" Hank resumed the video, in a clearer resolution and in slow motion. The video displayed the plane going through short vibrations and then a steady barely noticed one. "He created a large scale macroscopic quantum wave function, generating and sustaining a controlled tunneling through matter, all by using his speed and the speed force energy"

"I'll admit, he saved a large number of people, but he did so without orders or any form of alert. We can't have the kids running off to do what they want to when they want to. Imagine if all the others followed his example in inappropriate conditions" The visor wearing cyclops added.

"Lay off the kid, slim. He saved countless lives by doing what he did. Ain't no reason to beat him up for not getting _permission_ from you. Kid's got a good heart, and balls" Wolverine said with a mirthful smile taking a puff of his cigar, earning him a hard gaze from cyclops.

"Professor?"

"He might be rough around the edges, but David, like Logan said has his heart in a good place. I believe we can be a little lenient in the applications of rules in such a case. We should be more flexible and adaptive in certain situations" The bald professor Xavier said. This could be another chance for people to see the good mutants could accomplish. That not all of them were evil, or destroyers, but forces of good.

"I think so too. What can I say, I'm a fan of such heroism, and the thoughtfully creative applications of abilities." Hank forwarded the video to parts displaying the vortexes, the Speed clone and the phasing.

"Indeed, did he ever decide on a code name?"

"No, he hasn't yet? But he will be waking up soon, his healing factor isn't as pronounced as wolverines, but it's up to the task. I believe we should introduce him to a specialized training regimens tailored to him, enabling him to further develop and utilize his abilities more effectively"

* * *

Some days, you feel so tired you feel like you're about to die of exhaustion. Today was not of those days, last week was, I've been running for kilometers, performing lifts and pulls without actively using the Speed Force, oh and did I mention the weights I had to have on me? Yea. Due to my _heroics_ the X-men have taken a special kind of interest in me. When I say X-Men I mean Hank and Logan specifically. They butchered me on both fronts. Wolverine tempering my body and Beast, my mind. They called it the training regimen meant to make me maximize all my abilities.

"Come on you can do it, Dave. One more set" the bastard has a super healing factor, so of course he'd be energetic.

I have read so many books that it's no longer a chore, my mind goes on auto capture when ever I see a hardcover book. I found out that I had perfect permanent recall and that coupled with speed reading drove the meaning of 'Enhanced genius level intellect' and super photographic memory to the next level. And Hank made me abuse the hell out of it, so much so that I feel like I'm cheating whenever I look at something. And it's not just books I'm talking about.

I actually had doctorates in various scientific fields. Think about that. The youngest in X-Men history to have so many, right next to Hank of course(not for long beast). Third youngest in the world, Tony and Bruce beat me to it by courtesy of being born earlier.

If I had to choose a expertise I prefer then I'd be: mechatronics, biochemistry, programming and advanced mechanics. I never get bored when it comes to those subjects. The bad side is hank won't stop making references to extremely esoteric works by his favorite authors he knows only I will get. It's getting dank, like a dying meme.

"Huhf! Agh!" I pushed up against the metal weights and bar pushing me down. Completing the literal hundredth set. Wolverine made me build up more stamina atop of my speed force provided one. I began seeing the gains after the first two weeks. I began feeling the gains after the first month. And today I finally finished the 'demolition-man' set all in one single session. I felt immensely proud of myself. Immensely.

"Knew you had it in you." he smiled, tapping my shoulder.

"Yeah, you pretty much pulled it out of me. It was either that, or dying of _motivation_"

I realize that they're training me to be part of the main team. I can see that intention clearly, no matter how subtle it is, I'm not dumb. But I've come to actually like the X-men, they have grown on me I admit. I'll never say this to them, but it feels like being part of a family I never truly had, it felt warm and nice.

He snorted and tossed a towel at me. "Well you can always _thank_ me with more of those Pleuntaguena cigars through speedy delivery."

"You know Logan, one of these days, those villagers will sue you, or me" I shook my head.

"Heh, yeah right." He laughed leaving the gym. I was using my superspeed to get to a small village in Nicaragua and procure aged, rare high quality cigars for him. And the villagers, well they think it's one of their nature gods taking the cigars and leaving money. They even turned the days I visit into holidays and festivals, I don't have the heart to tell them otherwise.

I cleaned up the place and set everything in order then turned the lights off. I walked down the halls thinking of a calculation that's been a pain in the butt to solve! I was trying to build a code cracker, one made to disable one of the dangers I knew lurked around. With so many anti mutant groups and extremists, it's only a matter of time before they come knocking. And we all know that the institute gets blown to bits in the aftermath. It's a miracle they haven't built this place out of Lego bricks yet.

"Hey Dave" I turned to the origin of the voice, it was Sophie. We had grown to become very good friends, tight knit buds really.

"Yo Sophie, Sup." I walked to her side.

"Just coming from the library, dude you're sweating up a river" she pointed at my soaked shirt.

"Yea amigo, I just left the gym. Look at this hawt body I've got, uh yeah look at these muscles" I took a pose displaying my built chiseled musculature. I was shredded, I was ripped but in a more compact, dense build, like Saitama. Healing factors can give you gains quicker than you'd believe as long as you know how hard to push them. And (un)lucky for me wolverine did.

"You should build a castle out of your towering ego. Show off" She playfully punched my abs and blew my face with her wind powers.

I wiped my face. "Prfff, jealous"

"Hah! Yeah, right" she snickered.

"So who's your friend" I asked gesturing to the girl with electric blue hair in a Japanese hairstyle. She had slightly slanted hazel eyes, a piercing on her pointed nose luscious pink lips. Overall she had prominent Asian facial features. Silver metallic gauntlets covering her arm from her elbow downwards.

"Right sorry, this is Noriko she's new and I was just showing her around. Noriko this is David, resident narcissist and genius"

"_pffft_"

"I almost thought you forgot about me" Noriko inputted.

"That's just how she is. Hi, Noriko. You have quite the sweet name" I smiled and stretched my hand forward. Which she took in hers for a handshake.

"Thanks, David. You do too"

The cold metal fingers of her gauntlet wrapping around my hands. I took a more indepth look at the gauntlets, they were made for containment.

She took her hand back and raised it up to face level.

"They help me control my powers. I can absorb static electricity and discharge whenever I want" Blue electricity flickered over the top of her fingers.

"Cool" Sophie nodded.

"Cool indeed, well I know it's not much but welcome to the family. Sophie here will take very good care of you. And if you need tech fixed or school work explained, I'm your guy" I winked, to which she raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Thanks"

"Alright Riko, let's go to the cafeteria next. See you later, Dave." Sophie held Noriko's arm and dragged her along.

"Sure thing Sophie. It was nice meeting you Noriko" I waved.

"You too, David" she reciprocated and left with Sophie.

My gaze lingered on their leaving figures for a while, I resumed my walk, and soon enough got to my room.

"Dave yo." A green skinned boy exited the room next to mine raising his hand for a high five.

"Robin the man" Our palms clapped in a crisp five.

"Dude, could you help me out with this" He showed me a scribbled chemical equation. It was one from class.

"No, problem. Alright it goes like this.…."

I began to explain a method of solving the problem.

"And viola, once you factor in the heat exchange everything else falls into place"

"Dude, you're a lifesaver!" he thanked me and went on his way.

I opened my room door entered. The room was way more cozy and cleaner than the last one which had blown up…. Yea. I had posters of Einstein, captain America and Ironman on the walls. A wooden drawer was next to bed and on it a night lamp. A large mirror was bolted just below the hangers next to the closet.

A blue carpet was put spread close to the entrance and my desk was before the glass windows with drawn blue window curtains. I adored my body on the mirror and got undressed, wrapping a towel around my waist got into the showers and thoroughly cleaned myself. Letting that warm, calming water wash away the dirt, tiredness and fatigue from my skin.

I got dressed and flopped down into the bed breathing out. Literally sinking into it, till I went meters underground, I began running. In moments I had reached my lab/base.

During my training, I had been searching for a perfect location to call my base, because I couldn't make it in the X-Mansion without the staff finding out. This place was safer and better hidden than the X-Mansion. I had dug I to a cave system that was buried very deep underground. I had been refurbishing the place to serve as my base of operations, of course the only thing I could afford were the lights, everything else was fabricated and repurposed tech from dumpster diving.

The smoothened cement floors were warm, meaning the heating was working perfectly.

"Welcome sir" The computer announced. It wasn't an artificial intelligence, it was a virtual one instead like the ones back on my world.

I already have the codes to build my AI, I just don't have the cash to get the needed components for it.

The led lights mounted all over the cave displayed a white brilliance making everything visible. A large center space with shelves, tables and desks on the sides. Machines, parts of machines, and electronics were on one side of the cave. And another held, chemicals in test tubes, bubbling solutions and specimens in glass jars and juggs. A large projector took up space on the far side of the cave next to a cluster of computer screens and beneath it a behemoth of integrated cpu units and systems connected by wires and pipes, a homemade supercomputer. I used the natural internal cooling of the cave to solve the heating problem the computer would have had.

On the far back were generators and a treadmill connected to neat giant stack of car and truck batteries. The power supply, I'm also part of it, I learned that I could charge the batteries with speed force controlled lightning, I rigged a system that would feed them with the right current and voltage so the batteries wouldn't blow up in my face(never happening again).

Yeah I could throw lightning, it wasn't a bolt yet, like the ones in the movies. This one seemed more sith lightning style, coming from my hands and fingers.

My uniform was held in a stand. I stayed original to when I first went out, well it's the only thing I could do. I didn't have the resources to build a more advanced brighter one.

The footwear was different. I traded the normal combat boots for black Jikatabi style boots, the ninja kind one with slit toes. They allowed more grip to the ground and it doesn't restrict my feet as much compared to other types of shoes when running or performing taxing maneuvers.

The trousers were black slim fitting cargo trousers with added padding around the knees and straps holding the extra pockets.

For my upper body I had a military style combat long sleeve t-shirt with slim profile pockets on the shoulders and added protection beneath the chest. It won't stop bullets, but it would slow them down. Above the chest was a metallic well crafted lightning symbol with the edges budding beyond the circle boundary, and I made it glow a red-orange bright gleam. This was my official symbol, the x men symbol was on my utility belt buckle. And on the back of my gloves.

I know that the prof's probably aware that I've been going out at night to rescue people. He's probably also silently supportive. People want to know who I really was, and who I was associated with. I think I might actually be awarded a hero medal soon, they were making speculations of it on TV and the political landscape has been very _active. _So for those who could cared to look(shield, the government) they would know that I was somehow associated to the X-men.

I vibrated into my suit, clipping the mask into place.

The mask was inspired by the winter soldier's, so it was half face. The smart goggles I kept retracted behind the mask, they would slot around my eyes when I wanted them to and act as a smart display.

The mask had basic filtration systems, a voice modulator and inbuilt bone conduction 3d speakers. It sounded fancy but it was quite common like it was back on other earth.

And last but not least my trusty slim utility belt being the main storage for my gadgets.

"Zoom, _Zoom, _**Zoom,** _**Zoom. **_Voice modulator perfect" _clap clap_ I clamped my hands together getting the gloves into a tight fitting grip.

Time to be a hero.

* * *

You know new York was actually a pretty safe place, with the number of heroes roaming here you'd think the criminals would lay back but no. They actually increased, and I guess that's the reason why so many heroes were based here. And then the fires or crashes that would just spontaneously occur.

I watched four masked guys surround a couple busy sucking in each other's faces.

"Hey pal" the apparent leader said to the couple. "Cash and valuables, we take cards too" he pulled out a switch blade and waved it before the scared, shaking couple. No, need to rush. You gotta be calm and know what's really happening. Like now, the expression on that girl's face are so fake that the guy would notice it if he stopped shaking.

She wiped her lips in disgust and tapped his shoulder, he turned around and _ouch_ she punched the shit out of him. His eyes were still widened in terror but this time there was betrayal and hurt in them.

"Silence im' down we gotta leave soon" She told the larger masked man. Guess it's my time to act.

I sped into the alley, I drew the last guy back and tossed him. The second one I hold and slam into the third, the fourth I strike across the face. Remember that they are all frozen in slow motion relative to me. And when my perception runs down to normal it happens like magic. The last one is shot into the bin and stuck there, the second and third slam heads with each other and are knocked out. The first one rises of the ground and slams into wall.

"What the hell?!" the one in the bin shouts.

The female takes a fighting pose and glares at me.

"You wanna be a hero punk?" she spits at me.

"Look, don't think I won't drop your ass if you don't surrender, right now" I deadpan.

"Try me" she jumps, kicks off the wall and throws a perfect punch at me.

"You should've listened." I dodge her fist, grab her arm and pull. Using her momentum to smack her down on the hard floor "Ugh!" she groaned in pain. The police sirens were already getting louder, I had called them up.

I helped the victim to his feet and dusted his shoulders. "I know going through this makes you feel like humanity's no good. But trust me, it gets better, it always does. So don't give up, go out there and find what you're looking for, you'll succeed as long as you don't give up. Stay safe buddy" with the hero pep-talk done, I sped off.

Remember what I said about spontaneous fires, well here's one just for you. A three story apartment complex was on blazing angry fire. The flames had already begun engulfing the whole building, the firemen were doing all they could to put it out.

**B**_**wzz! Wosh! **_

Spraying pillars of water at the building, but they were losing the fight. I raced into the burning building, my goggles sliding around my eyes giving me a thermal image of the smoke filled building. The image filters were functioning, the intense heat couldn't affect them. But it was affecting me not as much as it should(Speed Aura). I was absorbing the the kinetic motion of the areas I could -which were not much- and that proved to be useless.

I couldn't absorb all kinetic motion of the fires that would require me to do something that could compromise the already shaky structure of the burning building, people were still trapped in it.

I kicked down the first door dashing for the family huddled together in the bathtub, the running water was protecting them, but it also made the place slippery(I'll build a solution for running on frictionless surfaces) I hefted the children over my shoulders and dashed down the building dropping them off to the firemen, then back up the building again for both parents.

The second room had a gas cooker that just blew up I tapped around the airborne spreading flames and sucked in the energy, grabbing the frame frozen man and taking him outside.

The other rooms mostly consisted of couples or singles who I swiftly rescued, there was one room with a boy band group, it was six of them I did save some of their cds and instruments with them. The dude looked like they were struggling financially, they wouldn't have been able to afford other ones.

There was one room with an Otaku, I won't lie I kept some anime and let the rest burn. That woman was the largest of them all, do you know how hard it was to pull her out and carry her? Thank God for all my strength training. I wasn't going to let anyone else I could save die by house fires, like I had caused. That dream still crops up sometimes.

The last floor had a single mother and her newborn. The baby would've choked to death, had I been any slower. I drew him close to me shielding him from the flames and smoke and threw the mother out the window. I jumped out and caught her as I ran down the building for the last time, saving everyone that was trapped in it.

"Woah!" "Oh my God!" "Jane are you ok?!" "Mike dude, we're not dead!" the people began to come to it.

I handed the wide eyed baby who was staring at me(what?) to the now cognizant mother who hugged her baby and cried.

I had to stop the flames from spreading.

I moved close to the building and made large vacuum like vortexes with my hands that sucked up all the flames from the building, extinguishing them. Parts of apartment collapsed on itself but it was still repairable.

"Is everyone Ok?"

"Yeah dude!" "Thanks a lot!" "You saved my kids!" they gave me words of praise, thumbs up and claps. "Whoo!" they cheered.

I speed back around and brought a crying man with me, handing him over to the authorities. He had bad burns on his arms and feet but he'll live.

"That man started the fire. You'll find all the proof you need in his apartment and he'll confess if you ask him to" the man had doused his room with gasoline and set the place on fire, it looked like he wanted to commit suicide but decided against it and got burned trying to escape.

"Daniel?" a woman called out to him

"Selene, _snivel_ I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry _sob_ I was just so t-tired of it all" he cried.

I gave the officers and firemen a salute "Good job" they said giving me thumbs up as well. I dashed into the night.

…

I groaned and collapsed into bed. I had stopped a lot of muggings, two store robberies, one rape attempt, and a fire. Overall I was thankful that I could help. It left this warm, proud feeling in me. I had stashed away my suit and other useful gadgets I found in the cave.

I popped a round, strawberry flavored ball into my mouth and sucked on it. This was the nutrient pill I had invented to deal with my hunger issues, a single pill contained around forty-five thousand calories, and the flavor was either strawberry or cardboard. Beast had made me the mega-glucose bars for my new diet, I hated them.

I lazily drew my blanket over my tired body, sunngling deeper into the bed, just a wisp away from drifting off to sleep. _**Brmmm! Brmmm! Brmmmm! **_My eyes shot open at the sound of the alarm.

* * *

***BOOOM! Back with another chapter to round things off with an ominous end. -cue the trumpets-**

**So David has le speed force. Hohoho, things are about to get really crazy. This are the X-men we know the shit that gets dealt to them, mutants at large don't get a lot of peace so you know it's only a matter of time before something happens. **

**So back to you guys! How'd you like the story? Leave a review. Hit that like and fave button to show. some. love.(motivate moi) An alternative universe is born every time you do. **

**Till next time. **

_**HERO out**_

**VICTORY!***


	3. BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS

** Y**

* * *

_**BOOOM! TWOOOMM! CRASH!**_

Before I even knew what was happening, an energy wave tore through my room. Turning half of it into dust and fire.

The Shockwave drove me through the wall, rattling my bones and rupturing my organs. My ears were bleeding the same way I was spitting blood from my mouth.

I rose up groggy and faint headed. Bruises and cuts all over my body. I walked out of the demolished room to see a harrowing sight I would never, ever forget. Bodies, so many bodies torn, burnt and roasted. The sick smell of burning flesh in the air, and when my ears slightly healed, I wished they hadn't because the screams were too much. Tears dropped from my eyes and I didn't even know it. Robin was in a pool of blood, exactly half his body missing like it was sliced by a giant sized scalpel.

I walked, ignoring the crying students and the running ones, ignoring the sounds of explosions and groans behind me. I didn't even know where I was walking to, parts of the building had collapsed on others, I felt someone shake me. I didn't respond, then the side of my face sharply stung bringing me back to reality.

"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" "David! Wake the fuck up!"another hit across my face and I looked up at an injured Sophie, she was holding onto an unconscious Noriko whose hand loosely hung to the side held by thin flesh and crushed bones.

"Oh God" _please help us. _"Do something! Don't just fucking stand there!"

I'm supposed to be a hero, what the hell was I doing.

I pushed in me, all the anger all the pent up emotions I had been keeping at bay I let loose. Golden speed force armor constructs formed around me. My lightning changed from red to gold. I grabbed Sophie and Noriko and took them both to the still standing nursery.

I ran faster than I had ever ran, I rushed into the mansion and grabbed everyone, every single student that made up the 2,362 student body. The dead ones and the living ones I took them all to the nursery, I ignored the giant robotic sentinels laying waste to the mansion. I focused on saving everyone. And when that was done, I knew where to turn my anger.

_**Ripp Crash! **_The X-men were busily fight against five giant killer robots. "**Destroy**" "**Eliminate**" was what they said as they pointed their weapons. And shot beams out of them, as missiles shot out of their fingers and shoulder blades causing massive heat flashes and shock waves to spread through the ground. I ran up their bodies phasing into the control core, I read what was on the screens before I trashed it. My hands dug into the mind cores or the sentinels and I ripped out their very brains. From one frame frozen sentinel to next I ripped it all out. And phased out of the falling body.

The large purple machines going up in a mass of flames as they fell to the earth dead. Like great titans meeting their doom. The X-men are staring at me, I don't want to speak but they have to know.

"Genosha, is getting attacked by a mother sentinel" I see them recoil in fear. "I'm going there" I don't wait to hear the professor's words. I just run through the sands, through the waters and I spot the giant, the true behemoth, the titan of destruction.

A sentinel that is as large as the half the island of Genosha unleashes literal hell on it.

I am but a mere ant compared to it. I can hear the screams from here. _Save them first_. I can hear the winds break apart. I am going faster than I've ever gone, I pushed the building fatigue behind me.

I get to the island and grab the first person I see and rush them to a mainland. Everything is frozen even the wind. I grab frozen men, women, children and even animals and I take them all to the mainland. I am running just below lightspeed.

I saved all who are alive, I get them to the safety of the mainland. All ten million of them out of a population of fifteen.

I run till I am on top the machine and I begin vibrating. The Kinetic energy inside every molecule of the machine is sucked out into me. For an analogy I was going to squeeze the sponge till it turns to ash. Heat death occurs without molecular momentum, absolute zero. The titan is encased in ice, "**Just Die!**" I grit my teeth so much that it breaks in my mouth. I punch the machine with the all the energy I just absorbed from it. It breaks into ice particles. It was disintegrated. I am so tired that I can't move my legs but I still do.

I run around the world, I circle it over and over and over till I find what I am looking for in a church located in DC. I was too late, the button was pushed, I know what's it connected to. I pushed my hand through his mouth before he can talk and I phase his brain out of his head. He drops dead, William Stryker's brain is tossed at the wall. It is now gray paste on the walls. My armor is the only thing keeping me standing.

I run to the mansion. Men are shooting at the x men, they are the purifiers. I don't give mercy, speed force lightning roasts them to piles of burning flesh. I walk to the middle of it all, the X-men are gathered.

"Oh no!" the professor shouts. The nuke is visible in the early morning skies. My golden armor stood like a beacon of hope.

"Thank you all" I say to them. Wolverine sees my eyes, he knows what I'm about to do. "Don't do it kid! You've got your life ahead of you!" he dashes forward to stop me.

I smile, "I'm a hero" they were the family I always wanted, I am grateful for that. I will save them all.

I jump in a flash of lightning. I tread on air rushing at the nuke. I phase into its nose, the only light here is me. I punch the core with lightning and cause the premature detonation of the load. The white light is blinding, there is no pain. There is only a beautiful white light. I embrace the heat.

I am a hero. I did what I wanted to. I would've liked to phase out but I'm too tired, there's nothing I can do now but die.

There's a smile on my face, I lived well. It was short but it was great. Let it be known that I died a hero, doing what I wanted to. I close my eyes and embrace it.

* * *

The X-men, they inspired hope they inspired a lot of things. In the center of the New York a golden statue was erected. It had a smile on its handsome kind features and a lightning on its chest. The x men stood around the statue and paid their respects. They were silent, the clouds roared and rains poured down. A brown haired girl fell to her knees as she cried. Millions more stood straight on an island, they watched silently. They paid their respects.

* * *

A child lay in green grass the calm breeze blew against his auburn hair. He put his hand before his eyes as he sat up.

"Huh?" he turned around searching for something. A man dressed in white approached the child.

"Joseph" the man said.

"Uncle Bob, where are we?" The child asked innocently.

"A very nice place boyo, come" the man stretched out his hand and the boy held on to it.

"Do they have candy where we're going"

"Haha! They have lots of it boyo" he ruffled the boy's hair and they walked into the golden horizon with joyful laughter.

* * *

**HI everyone. I'll be going away for a while. Might be a week, a month, a year but I'm going away. **

**Sorry to disappoint y'all. Yeah Dave died a hero. I am too proud of him. Although his journey was short, it's what he did that matters, and he was a beacon of hope. **

**I need some time off, something's happened today. I….l lost very important ones. **

**And this was an outlet for me. I'm guess I'm still in shock huh. Heh. **

**Bye guys stay safe and strong.**

**We'll meet again. **


End file.
